Reaching for a Shadow
by Dakk Tribal
Summary: 01 - The final party for the current President, Leon receives a visitor, and it's someone who he both didn't expect and expected at the same time.


A/N: This is set after Resident Evil 6 but before Resident Evil: Vendetta (that new CGI movie coming out in 2017)

* * *

"Lancelot, check in."

The voice over the speaker rang in Leon's highly attentive ear, and he responded instantly, "This is Knight, reporting. Loud and clear."

"Loud and Clear, Lancelot, just keep your eyes forward and watch out for any suspicious activity."

"Roger that," Leon repeated, turning off the microphone in his jacket pocket.

As his duty was to protect the President wherever he went, Leon was in the preferred place he'd rather be which happened to be out of sight, and then he'd take out any and all threats before they would know he was there. Out of sight, out of mind. That's how the saying went.

Too bad the party had one major problem. There were too many people; it was very crowded and tight even for Leon. There was so little room that he had to post himself on the balcony outside the bar, and had a great view of the backyard and garden. The building they were visiting happened to be a university that had security akin to Harvard and it was just as tight. The President was inside with delegates and he had at least a dozen men to protect him there, which left Leon to cover the outer most rings.

And that meant it would get boring in a hurry, which it did.

He had to avoid being suspicious, and hiding in the shadows on the terrace was not helping his position, so he had decided to walk around and try to get some familiarity with the place. Command had already told him not to do such a thing but what other choice did he have if he wanted to not look suspicious?

Even Leon's outfit hadn't helped him. Instead of dressing up for the part of being a secret Service agent like his fellow agents were he chose to wear more civilian clothes which consisted of a black coat with bullet proof armor under it and black pants and boots. His weapons were few but he was a great shot, his 9mm pistol was under his left arm in a holster along his ribs.

He took a peek into the bigger room, and saw that the place was still packed. Even that had an advantage though, as someone would get caught trying to bring a bomb or something in even if they had somehow gotten past him. Though he had to admit the bar was tempting him after being forced to stand around for more than a couple hours.

Bringing his hand to his ear, Leon dialed command, "Round Table this is Lancelot."

"Go ahead Lancelot."

"There hasn't been any activity since we started. Permission to take a breather."

"No can do Lancelot, that's the President in there, and even with the end of the election and his replacement taking office soon there's no way we can lower our guard. Sorry."

Leon took it about as well as one would expect him to take. "Very well Round Table, I'll keep you posted."

He turned the microphone off and sighed. _'This is gonna be a long night.'_

He took a look back into the bar, and a sea of black and white was shown before him. Most people were dressed in black and white formal attire, dresses and tuxedoes. When compared to Leon he stood out like a sore thumb in terms of taste.

Though he saw mostly black and white, some women wore gold dresses as well, and there were even a few red dresses in the crowd, including one that passed Leon's view.

 _'Red dress...'_ Leon brought his eyes back into his head. Red dresses were nothing new to him but whenever he saw one it reminded him of one woman, one who had crossed his path more times than he could remember. Though Leon had to admit, running into that woman here was a very slim chance he had to admit he'd run into her on too many occasions to be surprised anymore. Once in the basement of a police station, another in the middle of nowhere in Spain, again in the Eastern Slav Republic, and more once during the C-Virus Outbreak in 2013.

Ada Wong was like a shadow to him, and that made her deceptive and unpredictable at the same time.

Moving on through the crowd to another corner of the terrace, Leon kept himself on point and tried to forget about women in red dresses, which proved to be harder than he had thought as he passed a few on his way through.

He got to the other end, and as he stood and felt the cold breeze of the coming winter.

"Ladies and gentleman."

That voice was from the stage inside the building, and Leon listened. Better than doing nothing. The announcements that followed were about the bar; hope they enjoy the festivities, and finally a rendition of the classic piano theme "Moonlight Sonata". After a few moments of silence the song began, and the entire party went quiet.

This made Leon think it wasn't going to a bore for the night then, and so he felt more inclined to relax more than ever.

He began to casually walk around the terrace, avoiding making eye contact with anyone and remaining focused.

Getting to the next corner, he heard the music and thought it was more peaceful than he had remembered.

A group of women approached and he let them through, one of them giving him a smile as she went by but didn't stop to talk. "Story of my life..." he said with a slice of humor involved.

A twinge of familiarity came over his being, and Leon felt something was behind him. He kept a hand on the stone railing and slowly turned around. He felt confident in what it could be, and he wasn't surprised at all when he saw a familiar face.

"What sort of life story would you have, Mr. Kennedy?" Ada Wong brought a wine glass to her lips and slowly took a drink.

Leon instantly brought his guard back up, his casual nature going to the back of his mind for now. "My life story is full of surprises, but I am sure that there's a chapter of how I wonder you and I meet in the most unexpected of places. Care to enlighten me on that detail?"

Ada lowered the glass. She was wearing a red dress similar to the one he had seen her wear in Spain though this one was a bit more elegant and it fit her form very well. The butterfly motif she was well known for was on a black belt she wore loosely around her slim waist.

"Honestly, it's more fun when you try and guess." She didn't give him a straight answer, though this hardly surprised Leon as she had never given him one. If she had ever given him a straight and honest answer then he'd be considered surprised.

He knew she was messing with him already, but he knew he could play the game and ply it well. "Fair enough. Just play the innocent bystander routine until the party is over and pray I won't have to do anything about you. Wouldn't want to ruin the party."

"Very funny, Leon," she said, softly setting the glass on the rail. "Anything else?"

"You didn't come here as a guest. You snuck in or had forged papers. A different name maybe to get past security. Though I have this feeling that you broke a few bones to get in as well, which I know you're not afraid to do." Leon's eyes did a quick glance over her, and he noticed that her dress had no back and was loosely tied together at the curve in the small of her back. Despite this little distraction he noticed a few things. "One other thing is that you're armed."

"How'd you come to that conclusion?"

"First off, your legs are not close enough together to not suggest you have something attached to your leg. Possibly a gun or a knife. Second, you never just show up unarmed anywhere, I think I know you well enough to make that assumption. Finally, your dress is loose in the back."

Leon swore he saw her lips curve up in a smile, "Nice try, but no, I'm here to meet someone and that's it."

Though he didn't say it aloud, his expression showed that he didn't believe her at all.

She noticed it too, but she didn't budge on it. "Don't worry about me, even if I was armed I'm not here to cause trouble, nor do I want to be a part of any trouble."

Leon didn't hesitate, "Good, because then I'd have to take you in."

She took a few steps around Leon and went to his left side, "That would be a hell of a lot of paperwork, wouldn't you agree?"

And a hell of a chore too, Leon thought. He wasn't an idiot. To have survived all he had gone through over the years was an achievement on its own, but Leon knew that Ada had been doing her espionage for just as long if not longer than he had been out of school. She wouldn't be easy to take down, not without injury and possibly death for one of them. Yet he had this sneaky feeling that there wouldn't really be a winner between them if it ever came to that. "That it would."

Ada turned her head slightly, hearing the music coming from inside. "Moonlight Sonata. Lovely tune, don't you think?"

"Yeah, if you're in a haunted house or something." Leon began to feel comfortable with her, but as he took a look around he noticed that except for a few random guests he and Ada were the only two on the terrace. "Now comes the part where you tell me who you're meeting with."

She must've noticed the lack of people around, and she spoke, "I'd rather not."

He touched gently grabbed her right arm, "I'm not playing Ada."

What he felt next was her free hand grabbing his hand and putting a tight grip on it, her eyes gazing up at him with seriousness he had rarely seen from her. "Neither am I."

This made Leon back off a moment, and he felt the tension rise between them, that is until he felt her grip loosen and her hand rest on his arm.

"Trust me on this Leon. I'm not here to fight."

He couldn't trust her, no matter how much he tried, Ada Wong was not someone who was easy to trust. "I don't know if I can."

The song ended, and it moved onto the next one, which was ironically a lighter toned theme with light keys. Seemed even nature was tense, there was no breeze to speak of and even the animals were silenced.

The tension lasted a long time, and it seemed to go along with the music.

"Lancelot, check in."

The voice in Leon's ear snapped the tension on his end clean in two and he turned from Ada. He was secretly relieved to have that happen. He brought a hand to his ear, turning the comm-link in his ear on. "Yeah, this is Lancelot."

"You missed the last check in, everything alright?"

From the corner of his eye Leon made sure to keep Ada in his sight lest she decide to take off. His mind didn't even wonder if he should take her in or not. She hadn't done anything yet to warrant handcuffs. Key word was 'yet'.

"Yes, all's well on this front."

"Okay, just keep us up to date. Should you fail to report next time we'll send in someone to check on you." The line went dead. Assholes.

He turned back to Ada, and was a bit surprised that she was still there. She had shifted a little during his chat with command but he hadn't been worried as her hand remained on his own, thus he knew she hadn't left. He turned back to her, and he found that he was being offered a glass of wine.

"Thought you'd like something to drink. Think of it as a peace offering, if you want."

Slightly hesitant, Leon took the glass nonetheless, "I will. Thanks." He didn't drink it at first, seeing if there was any form of discoloration or something that would be off with it before he actually took a drink. There was nothing, and he took a drink. "Still don't trust you, Ada. Though one day I might."

"Sometimes I wonder if we'll ever have a more decent conversation. One that doesn't involve staring down the barrel of a gun." She raised her glass. "To us, as well as our rather unique relationship."

Seeing no harm in the simple action of a toast, Leon raised his glass as well, "To us."

Their glasses met, and they took a drink.

Leon set his now empty glass on the railing, "Guess it'll be time for you to be going soon."

She leaned against the railing, "What makes you say that?" Her tone bordered on teasing.

"Because I know you well enough to get some sort of clue," Leon replied.

Ada set her glass on the railing next to Leon's, it was empty as well, and got closer to him. "Is that so?"

"You deny it?"

She gave a sly smile, like she knew something he didn't, which was normally the case. She moved around to his side, whispering, "No, but you can never know for sure, right?"

He didn't deny that, and he remained quiet.

She walked on past him, and he turned so his eyes would follow her. Her back was to him, and she looked back over her shoulder, "See you next time, Leon." She didn't hesitate and kept on walking.

Still feeling like something was up, Leon waited until she turned the corner before he checked out his arm, just in case she had left something behind. She had, and he noticed it after he found nothing on himself. The napkin under her wine glass had writing on it, as well as an imprint of a kiss on it, which was Ada's usual trademark for Leon only.

Taking the glass off Leon saw the words 'Look south' written on the napkin. What could that possibly mean? The agent turned in that direction, and from there a single rocket went in the air, followed by an explosion that shook the ground as well as spooked the entire party in the building.

Not wasting a moment, Leon brought his finger to his ear, "Command, this is Lancelot. We have trouble, I need assistance!"

"Where?!"

"South gate parking! Some sort of explosion."

"Roger Lancelot, head there now and we'll send back-up."

Careful not to leave evidence behind, Leon grabbed the napkin and put it inside his jacket. As he hopped over the railing and began to hear all sorts of chatter over his comm-link, he now had to think of how to repay Ada for helping him this time.

There was always a next time.

* * *

A/N: So it's been awhile I know, but expect more from me for awhile. This is the start of my latest project that I have actually been working on for a month. See you all next time!


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